


In the Eye of the Hurricane Lies Something Lovely

by uwusoutforloona



Category: LOONA (Korea Band)
Genre: 2jin & lippie love triangle or at least it's supposed to be, Enemies to Lovers, F/F, Fluff, Happy Ending, Love Triangle, can you tell that my writing started to go from sucky to HORRIBLE towards the end there?, i don't know how to keep things short and sweet apparently, i read over this 94938 times but i'm sure there are still mistakes so i'm sorry for those, includes viseul chuulip yvesoul & hyewon if you squint hard enough and start to see stars, slight angst, sorry it took so long kim, this is for you kim, this was supposed to be 500 words but instead it's 7k...
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-24
Updated: 2019-08-24
Packaged: 2020-09-25 08:54:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,104
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20374060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/uwusoutforloona/pseuds/uwusoutforloona
Summary: For as long as they could remember, Heejin and Hyunjin have always been in love with Jungeun and have always competed with each other for that love. Their pranks on each other are notorious throughout the school, but one day Hyunjin takes it too far. Will this push help them discover their unrealized dormant feelings for each other or will it completely destroy any chance of them becoming something more than rivals?





	In the Eye of the Hurricane Lies Something Lovely

**Author's Note:**

  * For [@kjheejin](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=%40kjheejin).

> a present for @kjheejin :D
> 
> this is my first official fic for loona (not counting my current chuuves au on twitter) so i'm sorry if there are a lot of mistakes! i sort of lost my decent writing towards the end there so sorry if it's worse than the rest of the story but i hope you still enjoy nonetheless!

> _"Sometimes the one you think you hate_
> 
> _ is the one you love more than anyone else." _

She’s going to _ murder _ Kim Hyunjin.

Honest to god, Heejin is going to kill her. She can not believe that the girl actually had the _nerve_ to do something like this! Letting out an angry growl, she rips a piece of paper off of her locker and crumbles it in her hand, effectively ruining it. But it’s not hard to guess what the image on it contains, considering that there are _hundreds_ of copies of paper with the exact same thing plastered all over the school’s hallway. The picture is of a student — about eleven to twelve years old — on a stage, vomiting her lunch all over the first and second row of the audience. To any passerby, they wouldn't be able to tell that it’s a young Heejin because of how different she looks now if it wasn’t for the giant “JEON HEEJIN” written in all caps with a bright pink marker. 

She has no idea how Hyunjin had managed to find this picture of her but she is _ seriously _ going to murder that girl. All of this just because they both liked Jungeun? Sure, they were known for being rivals who would stop at nothing to prevent the other from getting together with Jungeun. The whole school knows about it. _ Everyone _ knows about their love for the blonde — except for maybe the blonde in question. In fact, the story of Jeon Heejin, the school’s sweetheart and Kim Hyunjin, the school’s star athlete competing for the love of Kim Jungeun, the captain of the swim team will go down in history as one of the greatest battles of BlockBerry High. 

In their rivalry, it’s common for the two of them to play pranks on each other as an attempt to embarrass the other enough to concede. Yeah, maybe Heejin _ did _ sneak into the girls’ locker room one day when no one was around and replaced Hyunjin’s shampoo that she always uses after practice with blue hair dye. Did Hyunjin have to walk around the school with bright blue hair for an entire week because of it? Yes. But she got her revenge when she trapped Heejin in a supply closet then proceeded to start their daily announcements by telling the entire school that Heejin had really bad diarrhea and wouldn’t be able to join her that morning. And since she was trapped, Heejin couldn’t defend herself and the damage was done. Was she extremely embarrassed and continued the rest of the school day avoiding everyone’s eyes? Yes. But no one_ actually _ believed it. They all knew why all of these things happened; at this point, they were used to the duo’s ridiculous pranks for one another. So no permanent damage was really done. Hyunjin — no matter how much she hated it — still looked extremely pretty with neon blue hair. Which is just unfair in Heejin’s opinion. Hyunjin’s announcement actually got Jungeun to approach Heejin that day to tell the younger girl that she hoped she felt better. Sure, they still hated each other’s guts but at the end of the day, everything is harmless. 

But _ this _ is just going too far. 

That day in the picture was one of the worst days of her life. The incident resulted in her classmates making the rest of her primary years and first year of middle school _hell_. She was finally able to escape after begging her parents to let her transfer to a different school. It took _way_ too long for her to get over it and she didn’t need to be reminded of it. Heejin can feel her anxiety bubbling up in her chest but she manages to stop it by reminding herself to take deep breaths. Instead, she focuses on the anger boiling inside of her. She knows that Hyunjin is probably somewhere with her friends, bragging to them about how good she got Heejin with her _ stupid _ soft voice and _ stupid _ dimpled smirk. Once she finds her, Heejin is going to wipe that smirk right off of her face.

She scours the entire school. Her search takes her to an empty gym, an empty piano studio, and an empty student council room — places that Hyunjin frequently occupied — but all of it was fruitless. It takes her a better part of an hour but she finally manages to track down the girl in question practicing on the soccer field with her teammates. Both Heejin’s and Hyunjin’s friends were seated on the bleachers cheering them on. In her blind rage, Heejin marches right up to Hyunjin, not caring about the current game that they were playing. Hyejoo is the first to notice Heejin stalking up to the soccer players with an angry expression on her face. She nudges at Chaewon’s side and points in Heejin’s direction. They both manage to get the rest of their friends’ attention and they all look at Heejin with a mixture of curiosity and worry.

“Yah! Kim Hyunjin!” Everyone on the field pauses and turns to stare at Heejin approaching them with the paper still clenched in her hands, face fuming with anger. 

Hyunjin looks up at Heejin and gives a knowing smirk. “Sorry, Princess. I don’t have the time to listen to whatever complaints you have right now. We’re trying to practice. So kindly move your cute little butt off the field.”

“How _ dare _ you?” Heejin says through clenched teeth, now in front of Hyunjin.

Hyunjin continues to play dumb. “Sorry, what was that?”

Taking big steps, Heejin gets right up to Hyunjin’s face and repeats herself, making sure to punctuate every word. “I _ said. _ How. _ dare_. you?” 

“Simple really. All I did was got back at you for spraying me with a bottle of spray tan. Do you know how hard it is to get that stuff off once it settles?”

“Yeah, and it was _ harmless_! You were strutting through the school as if you were some tabby cat because of the orange hue and you liked it! But _ this_.” She puts the paper up to Hyunjin’s face. “_This _ is _ not _ harmless.”

Hyunjin roll her eyes. “It’s just a picture. It’s not like it means anything. I don’t get why you’re even upset. This is what we do, remember? We get on each other’s nerves and get back at one another.”

“_Exactly _ ! We-” Heejin stops herself and exhales deeply. She clenches her jaw and closes her eyes, quelling her emotions. She looks back at Hyunjin, who is now eyeing her with a strange expression. “We don’t dig through each other’s past and pry at each other’s _ privacy_. You crossed a fucking line.” She slams the picture onto Hyunjin’s chest, causing the other girl to stumble back in surprise. “You can keep the picture but don’t _ ever _ talk to me again Kim Hyunjin. Whatever rivalry we had, you can forget about it. I’m _ done_. I don’t want _ anything _ to do with you anymore.”

With those last words, she quickly swirls around and stalks off, leaving behind a stunned Hyunjin. Heejin glances up at the bleachers on her way back and notices Jungeun amongst their group of friends. She’s staring at Heejin, a questioning look on her face. Feeling some loose tears roll down her cheek, her emotions finally getting the best of her, Heejin wipes at them before turning away and continues walking.

Jungeun looks at her friends and says, “I think Heejin was crying.” Her is voice loud enough to reach Hyunjin’s ear, causing the athlete to whip her head towards the older girl then back to Heejin’s retreating figure. Chaewon starts to get up, ready to rush after her best friend before she feels Jungeun grab a hold of her wrist. “It’s okay, I can go.” It takes her a minute to fight the urge to say no but Chaewon reluctantly nods. The group watches as Jungeun stands up and steps down the bleachers, making her way to Heejin.

Hyunjin approach the bleachers, still taken aback by what just happened but worry starts to overshadow her surprise. “Did Jungeun unnie just say that Heejin was crying?”

“Yup, she did.” Sooyoung says and pats her on the shoulder. “Whatever you did, you fucked up royally.”

“What _ did _ you do?” Jinsoul asks, leaning forward in her seat.

Hyunjin looks at the paper in her hands then opens it and shows it to the rest of the group. “I made a bunch of copies of this and taped them all over the hallways.”

“Hyunjin, what the _ actual _ fuck? Do you know what you just did?” Chaewon abruptly stands and exclaims angrily. This surprises everyone. It’s not an everyday occurrence for Chaewon to be so loud and sound so mad.

“Well, _ obviously _ not!” Hyunjin replies defensively.

“Chae, do you know why Heejin is so upset over the picture?” Hyejoo asks as she tries to calm her girlfriend by rubbing her arm soothingly.

Chaewon immediately relaxes at Hyejoo’s touch and nods. “Yeah, I do. It took her forever to tell me but yes. She made me promise not to tell anyone though so you’ll have to ask her yourself.” She looks at Hyunjin. “But you _ really _ messed up.”

Hyunjin sighs and looks at her feet as guilt starts to form, feeling sick to the stomach. “So people keep telling me.”

***** ***** *****

Heejin is in the middle of taking down the papers stuck to the walls when she sees a hand appear beside her, helping her take them down. She turns and sees Jungeun. The older girl’s eyes search her face before reaching up to wipe the tears rolling down Heejin’s cheeks. Her touch is soft and sends a jolt of electricity through Heejin’s body. Jungeun offers her a small smile and goes back to taking down the papers. She remains quiet as she continues to help Heejin. They remove the papers in silence until Heejin finally breaks it by muttering to herself.

“I can’t believe she actually did this. How did she even find it? I hate her. I hate her. God, I hate her so much.” 

She doesn’t realize that she’s full on sobbing until she feels Jungeun envelopes her in a hug, allowing Heejin to cry on her shoulder. Jungeun rubs her back in comfort and whispers, “It’s okay. It’s okay.” She waits until Heejin settles a bit more before continuing, “I know you don’t actually hate her. I know you’re lashing out right now because you’re angry. It’s okay. You can let it out.”

“It’s so dumb. I should be over it but seeing that picture just brought everything back and I hate it because I don’t want it back. I just want to move on. I _ have _ moved on. I thought I moved on.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“Yeah, just give me— just give me a couple minutes to gather myself.” Heejin pulls herself from Jungeun and rubs her tears away, sniffling a little. 

“It’s fine, take your time.”

Heejin gives her a grateful smile and nods. “Thank you.” She closes her eyes and inhales deeply before opening them again. “The picture was when I was in fourth grade. It was my first ever singing recital and I was really nervous. I thought I had it under control but when I opened my mouth to sing, instead of words it was my lunch.” She gives a bitter, watery chuckle. “Someone took a video of it and it spread like wildfire. The kids at school never let me live it down. They made up this horrible rumor about how I was bulimic which was why I couldn’t keep my lunch in during the recital because I was so used to _ forcing _ myself to puke. It just spiraled from there and everyday got worse and worse. It was a living _ nightmare _ that continued until my second year of middle school where I was finally able to convince my parents to let me transfer. It was really hard for me to get over it but slowly and surely, I was okay and moved on with my life. But seeing that picture just made everything come back and I suddenly felt like I was back at my old school again.” 

“I’m sorry that happened to you. No one deserves that. People can be so terrible.” Jungeun grabs one of Heejin’s hands and squeezes it in reassurance.

She sighs and looks at Jungeun again. “Sorry about this, I didn’t mean to unload any of this on you.”

“You don’t have to apologize. I’m glad you told me.” She pauses and bites her bottom lip. “I know you’re really angry with Hyunjin right now but you should talk to her as well.”

Heejin scoffs. “Why? It’s not like we’re friends or even like each other.”

“Well, that’s not exactly entirely true. I know you two have a weird rivalry thing going on for some reason that I don’t really get. But you’re also together all the time whether you mean to or not.”

“That doesn’t mean we _ like _ each other. It just means that we have very similar schedules and responsibilities. We know how to be civil when we need to be.”

“But if you were _ just _ civil to each other then would you have carried her on your back to the nurse’s office when she sprained her ankle? Would she buy you coffee every time she notices that you’re exhausted?” Heejin remains quiet as Jungeun questions her. “Whether you realize it or not, you care for each other. You always have. If you didn’t then Hyunjin wouldn’t have threatened your ex-boyfriend when he started to spread fake rumors about you.”

“Wait, what?” Heejin blinks in surprise, trying to process the new information. “She did? He spread rumors about me? Why didn’t I hear about them?”

“Hyunjin made sure he told everyone that he lied and stopped it from getting to the rest of the school. But you know, that’s not any different from when you stopped her from getting expelled because she was falsely accused of cheating.”

“It wasn’t fair that she would get expelled for something she didn’t do!”

“You’re right. But if you were just civil and if you didn’t really liked each other, you wouldn’t have done anything about it. A lot of people like Hyunjin but barely anyone stood up for her when that happened besides us and our friends.” Heejin clenches her jaw and stubbornly shakes her head in denial. Jungeun sighs, “Look, I just think you should talk it out with her.”

Before Heejin could reply, a familiar and soft voice from behind her stops her, “Um, I’m sorry to interrupt but Jungeun unnie, is it okay if I speak to Heejin alone for a few minutes?”

Heejin’s eyes widen and frantically shakes her head at Jungeun with a pleading expression that screams, “No!” Jungeun ignores it and nods at Hyunjin. “Yeah, I can.” She looks at Heejin as she walks past her and whispers, “Just talk to her!”

On her way out, Jungeun squeezes Hyunjin’s shoulder, silently wishing her good luck. Hyunjin gives her a grateful smile in return. She looks back at Heejin, her expression showing guilt and regret. She knows that she screwed up and feels even worse about the entire situation after accidentally overhearing Heejin’s story. An indistinguishable but nauseating feeling begins to form in the pit of her stomach. It’s hard to explain but Hyunjin feels as if she somehow betrayed Heejin’s trust and every time she thinks about it, she feels a sorrowful clench in her heart. She doesn’t understand it but she can’t handle the idea of Heejin being hurt, especially hurt by _ her_. She’s never been able to handle it.

Heejin releases a frustrated huff and meets Hyunjin’s gaze with a glare before swiftly turning on her heels to resume removing the papers from the walls.

“Did you really help me from getting expelled?” Heejin continues to ignore Hyunjin, causing the taller girl to sigh, feeling awkward from the silence. “I know you said not to talk to you anymore and I’m not trying to disrespect that but I just wanted to let you know that I am _ truly _ sorry. I sort of overheard you telling Jungeun unnie about what happened at your old school.” Heejin stills in her spot and Hyunjin quickly rushes to explain upon noticing this. “I swear I wasn’t intentionally eavesdropping on you and I won’t tell anyone. I just came to say I’m sorry and happened to have heard it. I’m _ really _ sorry. That’s all I wanted to say. I’ll leave you alone now and don’t worry, I won’t bother you anymore.” 

She turns to leave but stops when she hears Heejin ask, “Why did you do it?”

“I’m sorry?” Hyunjin looks back at Heejin, who is now facing her.

“Why did you do it?” Heejin repeats.

“One of my teammates came across the picture yesterday and showed it to me. I just thought it was one of those embarrassing moments that everyone has in their past. Like how one day in third grade, I bent down to pick up my pencil and ripped my jeans in front of everyone.” Hyunjin winces at the memory. “I’m not trying to make an excuse and I’m– I’m not blaming anyone else, okay? I– I take full responsibility. I just wanted to let you know that I didn’t intentionally dig up things from your past because you were right, we don’t do that.” She feels the horrible feeling being to rise and overwhelm as she continues to think about the pain that her actions caused for Heejin. “I shouldn’t have done it.”

Heejin stares at her for a long moment with a blank expression before asking, “Did your classmates laugh at you when you tore your pants?”

“I, uh, what?” Hyunjin replies, surprised by the question.

“Did your classmates laugh at you when you tore your pants?” Heejin questions again, her face staying completely neutral.

“Um, yeah.” Hyunjin gives her a puzzled look but answers anyway. “_Yeah _, they did and they didn’t stop laughing about it for about a month.”

“Good. You probably deserved it.”

“Wha–” Hyunjin’s confusion deepens until she sees the small smirk on Heejin’s face. It finally dawns on her that Heejin, in her own way, is telling Hyunjin that they’ll be okay. She offers a quiet chuckle and small smile in return. “Yeah, I probably did.” 

Heejin nods, her smile becoming a little bigger. She looks around then back to Hyunjin and points at the papers. “Well, you can start making it up to me by helping me with getting these down.”

“Yeah, definitely. I was actually planning on to anyways. I can do it though since it was me who put them up in the first place.” Hyunjin offers.

“Sounds good. I can get behind that.” Heejin answers immediately.

Not expecting Heejin to accept so quickly — or to really accept it at all — Hyunjin stutters, “O– oh okay.”

“What? You didn’t expect me to say yes?”

“Uh, sort of.”

Heejin smirks, having fun with making Hyunjin squirm. “I mean, you’re right. It _ was _ you who did it in the first place so _ you _ should clean it up.”

“I know, I know and I am.”

“I’ll supervise to make sure you’re doing a good job and don’t miss one.”

“Gee, thanks.” Hyunjin responds sarcastically.

Heejin contains her giggle as she watches Hyunjin start to take the pictures down one by one. It doesn’t take long before Heejin joins Hyunjin, not being able to stop herself from helping. It’s just in her nature. It takes them four hours to take all of the images down but they didn’t mind too much. They kept themselves entertained by talking with and teasing each other — at one point, they even raced each other from one end of the hallway to the other. Heejin has never been much of an athlete so it’s no surprise that Hyunjin wins. Afterwards, they made a bet to see who could take down the most papers. It ended up being a tie and before they knew it, they were finished. 

Hyunjin leans against the wall and slowly slides to the ground, releasing a tired breath. “Finally, that took forever.”

“Yeah, no kidding.” Heejin joins her on the cool floor. “How did you even put them up so quickly in the first place?”

“To be fair, it’s a lot easier to just run around the hallways slapping the papers on the walls than it is to take them down.”

“Oh, true.”

Hyunjin abruptly turns to Heejin before scooting up in front of her with a serious expression on her face. She wants Heejin to know that she means it when she said that she was sorry and that she wasn’t just say it for the sake of saying it. Taking Heejin’s hand, Hyunjin places her other hand on Heejin’s cheek, causing the other girl’s eyes to widen in surprise. Her voice is soft when she speaks, as if sharing a secret she only wanted Heejin to know. “I _ meant _ it, you know. I really am sorry. If I had known how much this would actually hurt you, I wouldn’t have done any of it in the first place. I shouldn’t have even done it at all. I’ll make it up to you in any way I can.”

Not knowing how to respond, Heejin just continues to stare at Hyunjin with wide eyes. She doesn’t know what to make of this Hyunjin — who was capable of such a cruel act as plastering her pictures in the hallways — being so sincere and sweet to _ her_. Who’s looking at her with such a soft and caring but worried expression. She doesn’t know what to make of this Hyunjin who is making every part of her body vibrate with nervous excitement just by the gentle brush of her thumb across Heejin’s cheek. Who makes her breath hitch at the intense but indecipherable look in her eyes. A familiar — and yet still unfamiliar — feeling of warmth begins to spread throughout her body and her mind is both blank and racing. The rush of adrenaline and sudden lurch in her stomach tells her that yes, this is the oh, so familiar but unknown feeling that she gets every time she sees or is around Hyunjin. She feels light headed and thinks she could pass out at any moment but she’s more awake than she’s ever been. It’s not uncomfortable or painful. Rather it feels almost like a dream. Somehow this concoction of light, airy feelings mixed with such intensity and heavy tugs on her heart grounds her. In every sense, she should feel frantic and panicked but instead, she feels _ safe_.

She’s never been able to understand this feeling. It’s the very opposite of what she _ should _ feel around Hyunjin and so, she repressed it, too focused on their rivalry for Jungeun — and not wanting to acknowledge what it could mean. But now, there’s no escape. No way of ignoring it, not with how close Hyunjin is. Now more than ever she feels it raging inside of her threatening to break free. Two times stronger. Six times. Ten. 

She just doesn’t know what to make of _ any _ of this.

* * *

She’s going to _ murder _ Kim Hyunjin.

Okay, so maybe the last time she said that, she didn’t actually end up killing her and it even led to their newfound friendship. But this time she _ means _ it. Heejin still has an hour left before first period starts and she has been searching the school for one Kim Hyunjin because she wanted _ answers_! For some godforsaken reason, Hyunjin has been avoiding her for the past three days and even ditched on their plans yesterday without warning. Heejin has definitely noticed the change in their dynamic in the past few weeks and she doesn’t just mean the fact that they’re friends now. Ever since the incident, Hyunjin has been acting differently towards her. Yeah, they’re friends — Heejin would even go as far as saying _ best friends _ — and everything has been great. Amazing even. They were always a constant presence in each other’s lives before but now they’re practically attached to the hips. Always making time to hang out with one another and you never saw one without the other. If you were none the wiser, you wouldn’t have thought that they used to "hate" each other. Still, she can’t help but notice that Hyunjin has been walking on eggshells around her, almost as if she was afraid of breaking Heejin. Their jokes aren’t quite as witty or sarcastic and anytime Hyunjin says anything in a remotely teasing manner, she quickly apologizes. Sometimes their conversations feel too stilted and safe. They don’t flow quite as easily anymore. Even when they were rivals, constantly playing pranks on each other everyday, there was an easy banter between them. A carefree attitude from both parties. But now, every time they speak, Hyunjin seems to put _ too _ much thought into what she says.

Heejin understands that she still feels guilty about what she did but she has long forgiven Hyunjin for it and she has already told Hyunjin that several times. Honestly, she forgave her the moment she apologized. But now, Hyunjin just _ had _ to go and ruin it by ignoring her. Going as far as completely missing their plans to have a picnic yesterday without telling Heejin about it. 

It would be an understatement to say that Heejin is upset. She’s _ pissed_. She’s pissed because after spending so much time with Hyunjin, she realized that perhaps, she likes the athlete in more than just a friendly way. That she _ more _ than just likes her. Because it made her realize that yes, she liked Jungeun in the beginning but somewhere along the way she fell in love with Kim Hyunjin. She now recognizes the feeling that has always plagued her heart anytime Hyunjin was present — _ is _ present. She’s pissed because she has _ finally _ come to terms with it and was planning on confessing to Hyunjin yesterday during their picnic. But instead of showing up, Hyunjin ditched her to go out with Jungeun to some cafe which Heejin had to find out about through the courtesy of Instagram. 

But most of all, she’s pissed because maybe she’s not actually mad but rather just _ scared_. Scared of what might happen once Hyunjin finds out that Heejin likes her. Scared that somehow Hyunjin already found out about her feelings and that's why she's avoiding her. Scared that Hyunjin doesn’t want to be her friend anymore. Scared of losing Hyunjin without even knowing why.

In the midst of marching through the hallways, she spots Hyunjin at her locker but before she could get to her, Hyunjin sees her and immediately run for the hills. But Heejin won’t let her get away that easily. She quickly dashes after her right into the student council room. Grabbing Hyunjin’s wrist, she pulls her back, effectively stopping her from making her escape. This causes Hyunjin to look back at her with wide eyes.

“Kim Hyunjin, you better have a damn good explanation as to why you have been _ ignoring _ me for the past _ three _ days and missing out on our picnic!” Heejin threatens.

Hyunjin stares back at her like a deer in the headlights. “I’m, uh, sick?”

“Oh, really? That totally explains why you’re at school today and also the past three days and why you were with Jungeun unnie yesterday instead of having the picnic that we planned several days in advance, huh?”

“Um, I meant to call you to cancel?”

Heejin releases a scoff of disbelief. “Are you seriously going to continue lying to me right now?”

“I’m not lying!”

“You know, if you– if you–” Not being able to contain her emotions any longer, tears begins to form and travel down Heejin’s cheeks. “If you don’t want to be friends anymore, you c–could have just told m–me instead of ignoring me.”

Upon seeing Heejin cry, Hyunjin immediately rushes to her and starts to wipe the tears away while quietly shushing her. “Hey now. No, no. That’s not it at _ all_. I don’t want to stop being your friend. How could I ever want to lose someone as amazing as you? Please don’t cry. I hate it when you cry, especially when it’s because of me.”

Burying her face in Hyunjin’s shoulder, she starts to hiccup through her words. “Then stop making me cry, you idiot! If you don’t want to s–stop being my friend then why did you a-avoid me for the past three days? You didn’t even have the d–decency to tell me that you weren’t gonna come yesterday.” She starts to punch Hyunjin’s chest in frustration, but she’s still careful to not hurt her. “You r–ruined _ everything_. I had it all planned out and you ruined i–it. I was _ finally _ okay with my f–feelings and I was going to confess and tell you that I love you. I know you’re still in love with Jungeun unnie but I just wanted to let you know that but you d–didn’t show up! I thought you went back to hating me again!”

“You’re wrong.”

“W–what?” Heejin looks up at Hyunjin only to see that Hyunjin is already staring down at her with an intense look in her eyes.

Hyunjin places both of her hands on Heejin’s cheeks to wipe away the tears and brush a few loose strands of hair out of the way. Her touch is so gentle that Heejin can’t help but relax into her hands. Hyunjin waits for Heejin to calm down before repeating herself, “You’re _ wrong_. I’m not in love with Jungeun unnie anymore. I don’t think ever was and I don’t _ hate _ you.” Hyunjin makes sure that Heejin is looking her right in the eyes when she says the next part. “I’m in _ love _ with you.” Heejin feels her breath hitch at the sudden confession. “I’m sorry that I’ve been ignoring you and that I just made you cry again, but I just didn’t know what to do and I was afraid of losing you because I thought that you wouldn’t feel the same. I didn’t think about how my actions would hurt you and I should have.”

“You’re in love with me?” Heejin asks in a small voice, fearing that if she says it too loudly, it might break whatever dream that she seems to be in. Hyunjin nods in confirmation. “Say it again. Say it again so I’ll know that this isn’t you going back to your old habit of playing some sort of elaborate prank on me.”

“I’m in love with you.” Hyunjin takes a deep breath. “_I_, Kim Hyunjin, am completely and utterly in love with _ you_, Jeon Heejin.”

“Oh _ wow_.” Heejin says breathlessly. Her tears have completely stop and now dry on her cheeks. Never in a million years would she have thought that Hyunjin would return her feelings. “I’m in love with you too.”

Hyunjin smiles impossibly wide at Heejin’s words, but it's quickly replaced by a look of pain when she feels the sudden impact of Heejin’s palms slapping her arm. “Ow! What the hell?”

“Kim Hyunjin, you are officially the dumbest person alive! I can’t believe you ignored me for _ three _ days just because you thought that I wouldn’t like you back. Of course, I would like you back, you idiot! Who wouldn’t fall in love with that _ stupid _ smile of yours?” Heejin steps back from Hyunjin, huffing loudly. She crosses her arms and puts on an adorable pout.

“Hey, hey, we’re putting that behind us now.” Hyunjin reaches out again to wrap her arms around Heejin’s waist, pulling her closer before giving a toothy grin. “Let’s just focus on the fact that we’re in love with each other.” 

Upon hearing that, Heejin can’t help but smile and feel giddy over the new information. They’re in _ love _ with each other. Hyunjin returns her feelings! Heejin settles into their embrace and puts her arms around Hyunjin’s neck. “You’re lucky you’re cute.”

“_Yeah_. Yeah, I am.” Hyunjin says. Her eyes full of love for the shorter girl.

They stay in place for a couple minutes, staring at one another before they both start to slowly lean in until they are inches from each other. But before they could close the gap, a voice interrupts them. “I think it’s great that you two have finally resolved your feelings for one another but if it’s okay with you, I would like to start our meeting now instead of watch you make out with each other.”

“Yeah! Don’t scar us.” Another loud voice croaks.

Both of them freeze in their spot before turning to the room only to see the rest of their friends staring back at them. Haseul, the one to stop their impending kiss, gives them a tired smile while Vivi, Jinsoul, and Sooyoung are smirking at them knowingly. Jungeun looks confused by something, not really paying them much attention at the moment. Yerim and Jiwoo are clapping their hands happily whereas Yeojin and Chaewon pretend to gag at the display of affection. Hyejoo just looks like she wants to go home, which is normal. Upon seeing them, Heejin and Hyunjin quickly break apart before giving the group sheepish smiles.

“Awe, Haseul, don’t spoil their fun. Let the new lovebirds have their moment!” Jinsoul exclaims from behind Haseul and gives Heejin and Hyunjin a thumbs up.

“Congrats! I’m so happy you two are finally together.” Yerim says, excitedly bouncing in her spot.

“Thank god, it was taking forever. Their obliviousness was starting to get annoying, especially with how grossly in love they were being.” Chaewon says, her face scrunched up in disgust.

Yeojin nods in agreement. “For real, it was constantly a “will they or won’t they?” type of situation. It was getting really tiring to watch.”

“Wait a minute, Hyunjin liked me?” Jungeun suddenly asks, her voice full of confusion.

“How did you not know that? _ Everyone _ knew that.” Hyejoo responds and narrow her eyes in judgement.

“They did?”

“Yeah, it was the reason why those two were always fighting.” Sooyoung replies, pointing at Heejin and Hyunjin, sounding like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “They both liked you, or thought they did, so they fought for you.”

Jungeun’s mouth opens in shock. “It was?” She pauses as she fully registers the last part. “Wait, Heejin _ also _ liked me?”

“How are you in the top ten of your class and not realize that they both liked you?” Vivi questions.

Jinsoul laughs before piping in, “Maybe if she stopped making out with Jiwoo every two minutes then she would have noticed.” 

“Yeah, good luck with that. Those two haven’t been able to keep their hands to themselves ever since they started dating which was a _ long _ time ago.” Hyejoo replies with a repulsed look on her face.

“Hey! I didn’t ask for this attack!” Jungeun huffs.

Heejin and Hyunjin gives each other incredulous looks before turning back to the group and simultaneously exclaims, “Jungeun unnie and Jiwoo unnie are _ dating_?”

“Yeah, we have been for three years now.” Jiwoo answers, smiling proudly.

“What-”

“I-”

Chaewon roll her eyes and shakes her head. “Heejin, Hyunjin, and Jungeun unnie are officially the oblivious trio now. The three stooges of the group.” 

This causes the three to straighten up with upset faces, offended by Chaewon’s comment and they start to defensively shout over one another — creating excuses for their ignorance. The rest of the group look on in amusement.

“How was I supposed to know they liked me?” 

“Chae! I’m not oblivious!”

“You would be more fitting as one of the stooges than me!”

“Hey, don’t hate the playa, hate the game.” Putting her arms up in surrender, Chaewon smirks. 

Hyunjin looks at her with displeasure. “Actually, I hate you for saying “playa” instead of player.”

“It be like that sometimes.” Chaewon shrugs.

Jungeun turns to Jiwoo. “Did you know that they like me?”

“Uhhhh, yeah. It was a little hard _ not _ to know because they were always declaring their love for you.”

Jungeun just stares at her girlfriend with her mouth open in disbelief. Jiwoo pats her head in comfort and briefly press their lips together, giving her a peck; she smiles at her lovingly, finding Jungeun’s obliviousness to be endearing. Jungeun instantly melts at Jiwoo’s affection and entwine their hands together, pulling her girlfriend into a side hug that Jiwoo gladly settles into. Seeing the display, Heejin and Hyunjin begin to wonder just how they ever manage to miss the upperclassmen’s love for each other.

“You were okay with us doing that?” Heejin asks.

“The pranks were fun to watch and I knew that you two didn’t mean anything by it. Plus, I also knew you were actually in love with each other instead.”

“Did _ all _ of you know that we liked each other?” Hyunjin questions, surprised by Jiwoo’s words.

A chorus of “Yup!” and “Pretty much” rings through the room as they all nod in confirmation. The couple stays rooted in their spot and blinks at them, not knowing what to say.

“How?”

Sooyoung tilts her head to the side in contemplation. “You two have always gravitated towards each other, almost like the universe was pushing you together. It just made sense.”

“Literally, the whole school was taking bets on when one of you would get your shit together and ask the other out.” Hyejoo deadpans.

“Oh, speaking of which, each of you owes me and Vivi twenty thousand won.” Haseul triumptly declares, gesturing at all of them and causing them to groan at the reminder.

“Not me. I said they would confess this week too.” Hyejoo replies.

Vivi quickly joins Haseul’s side and clears her throat before pointing to the space in front of her. “Kindly line up here and hand the money over to me please. I’ll split it up evenly for the three of us later.”

“Awe man, you two couldn’t have waited another week to confess?” Jinsoul complains, pretending to get choked up over the loss of her money.

Yerim joins in, a forlorn expression on her face. “Or confess a week earlier.”

“Just be better at guessing.” Vivi shrugs while happily the winnings.

As everyone hands in their money, Heejin and Hyunjin look on in bewilderment at how all their friends — and apparently the entire school — knew about their feelings for each other before they did. After they’re finished, Haseul clap her hands together.

“Alright, now that’s over with, can we please start our meeting? We’re fifteen minutes behind.”

Murmurs of agreement and “yeses” fill the group and they all settle back into their seats. Heejin stands in her spot for a minute longer as she watches her friends interact with one another. She watches Haseul shuffles through her papers and organizes them, getting ready to begin their meeting while everyone talk amongst themselves. Vivi is right by her side, counting the money from earlier. In the corner, Jungeun and Jiwoo are locked in their own world as they whisper to each other, staring at one another with eyes full of love. Next to them, Jinsoul look on in glee at Chaewon annoying Sooyoung with Hyejoo soon joining in on the teasing. Sooyoung turns to her girlfriend for help but Jinsoul shakes her head in refusal, enjoying it too much which causes Sooyoung to lean back on her seat and cross her arms before grumbling to herself. Jinsoul laughs in amusement before placing a kiss on Sooyoung’s cheek to placate her, making Sooyoung to turn away from her with a petulant expression — but Heejin can see her lips quirk up in a small smile. On the other side of the room, Yeojin and Yerim are being their usual loud and lively selves as they trade Pokémon cards. Heejin turns her attention to Hyunjin, her _ girlfriend _ — not rival or just best friend — already staring back at her with an adoring smile on her face. Her eyes flicker all across Hyunjin’s face, admiring her beauty.

Seeing everyone so happy and in love, Heejin can’t help but feel her heart swell with her own happiness. This is everything that she has ever wanted, friends who are practically family and someone who loves her just as much as she loves them. And she finally has it. For the first time in a long time, Heejin thinks that she’ll be okay.

Lacing their fingers together, Hyunjin tug slightly on Heejin’s hand, causing her to give Hyunjin a questioning look. Hyunjin tilts her head to the table and says, “Come on, let’s get to our seats.”

“Okay.” Heejin starts to make her way to her seat but she feels Hyunjin’s hand tightens around hers and pulls her back. She turns back and curiously raises an eyebrow. “What is it?”

“Just forgot something.”

Before Heejin could ask for clarification, Hyunjin leans in and presses her lips against Heejin’s. The kiss is gentle and doesn’t last too long. It’s not frantic with emotions and urgency but rather a promise of what to come and Heejin can’t help but smile. When they pull back, they hear a chorus of ten _ very _ loud but strangely harmonious voices erupt in the student council room.

“Oh gross! Don’t kiss my best friend in front of me Hyunjin!”

“I thought I said that I wanted to start this meeting?”

“Oooh, get it 2jin!”

“They’re so cute!”

“How come you don’t kiss me sweetly like that Eunnie?”

“What– Yeah, I do!”

“What the hell is a 2jin?”

“Ha! I said they would kiss this week! You guys owe me money!”

“Man, I keep losing money. I can’t buy anymore Minecraft ranks this month now!”

“I– Wonnie, why are you using _ my _ hand to cover _your_ eyes?”

Hyunjin remains unbothered and starts walking to her seat with Heejin in tow, waving them off. “If we have to deal with all of _ you _ kissing then you have to deal with _ us _ kissing. Besides, Jungeun unnie and Jiwoo unnie kissed earlier and no one said anything.”

The room fill with voices again, some in defense, mostly from the couples themselves, and others in agreement. Hyunjin roll her eyes at their behavior but squeezes Heejin’s hand to get her attention. She mouths “they’re ridiculous” and gives Heejin a toothy grin. Heejin returns it with a bright smile of her own, feeling her love for Hyunjin grow more and more every second.

Yeah, she’ll definitely be okay.

**Author's Note:**

> don't be afraid to comment, give me feedback, or hit me up @uwusoutforloona :)


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